As antipsychotic indications have spread, more patients are taking them in combination with their opposite: a stimulant. We look at the risks, search for scenarios where it might make sense, and come up with an action plan for this paradoxical pairing.
Patients with genetic risks for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder often present with prodromal symptoms of the illness, but the most effective treatment may surprise some. It’s not a medication.
Mitochondria regulate the body’s energy stores, and they are thought to play a causal role in bipolar disorder. This analysis gathered at seven therapies that improve mitochondrial function and looked at how they work in bipolar disorder.
Both these medications work in bipolar depression, but this analysis compared them head-to-head for a different primary outcome: Cognition in bipolar disorder.
Dr. Aiken is the Editor in Chief of The Carlat Psychiatry Report; director of the Mood Treatment Center in North Carolina, where he maintains a private practice combining medication and therapy along with evidence-based complementary and alternative treatments; and Assistant Professor NYU Langone Department of Psychiatry. He has worked as a research assistant at the NIMH and a sub-investigator on clinical trials, and conducts research on a shoestring budget out of his private practice. Follow him on Twitter and find him on LinkedIn.